For the Veteran mom's on the list who cloth diaper

feuerrose2 · December 2011

I would really like to use cloth diapers with the LO and it has been a bit of a chore convincing DH. I think he is just grossed out by it.

Here's the scenerio:

We live in a fairly small 1 bedroom apartment and do not have our own washer and dryer. There are machines in the building and a laundromat around the corner.

Although I would really like to cloth diaper, and I think it is over all better cost and environmentally speaking. I am concerned about being a "bad neighbor", if I use the community w/d's to clean dirty diapers. The machines in our building have no controls outside of water temp. If there was a pre-wash, I would say it wouldn't be a problem.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

JJorstad · December 2011

I never did cloth diaper before...but I am considering it for this one. But here the F&Q From Cloth Diapering Board

I have been looking at it and it looks like you can buy stuff for storing dirty diapers and stuff from Planet Wise

squishywife · December 2011

I do cloth diaper and am pg with my 4th baby. My life is INSANE between working full-time, raising these crazies, and maintaining a household. Cloth diapering is no big deal once you get it down. It might take a small adjustment period. Trying to fit the diaper properly to your baby, etc.

I can see a problem with not having a washer/dryer right there. I think the answer to that is having a lot more diapers so you can go longer periods without washing. I wash every two days. I keep them in a plastic bin on top of the dryer until I am ready to wash.

If you have any questions, I would be happy to answer, but I am not here much. I love simplecloth.com. The owner there emailed me back and forth when I had questions about how I was going to make cd-ing work for our family.

That said...DH does not wash diapers or rinse. He takes them to the basement, but I rinse and wash. Works for us. He was against it to begin with, but agrees that we have saved a lot of $!

Between cd-ing and bf-ing I figure we save at least $50 a week on our grocery bill!

ealasaid · December 2011

Have you looked to see if there are any cloth diaper services in your area? They pick up the dirties and leave clean ones. Im going with one for our Bean. Its $95 a month and they give you a 2 weeks supply (then pick up the dirties and leave another 2 weeks supply), plus washable wipes, soaker inserts for nighttime and diaper pail liners. All you need to have are diaper covers/soakers. I calculated it out and paying for the service is around $30 cheaper a month than buying disposables, not including cost of wipes.

squishywife · December 2011

That service sounds delightful! We have nothing like that here in the cornfields where I live!

uppereastgal · December 2011

Since you're in the city, I recommend going in an talking to the women at Metro Minis (in the 70s on Park). They're amazing (they offer a CD class too). Having a washer/dryer in your apartment is a rarity in this city (we're lucky enough to have one), but these ladies help city mamas out. Seriously. You won't regret it.

I have one friend who CDs in her building laundry room. It's a pain to lug the laundry, but the women at Metro Minis helped her figure out the best laundry cycles for her to use to keep it simple.

I wish I had more friends in the city who CDed. Maybe I'll be able to convert people...

itkatydid · December 2011

I CD while I was exclusively BFing so about 8 months after that my son continued to be a super pooper- pooping at least 4 times a day. Although I still nursed the introduction of solids made his poop beyond revolting- so I quit. Also, I'm a nurse so its not like I'm a poop wuss! I've cleaned a lot of crap and just cute baby crap!

Personally, I would think that CDing would be a TON of work if you didn't have your own washer. I washed my CDs every day to every other day because I thought they smelled. When I switched to spoises it was for the convenience but also because he was peeing out of his diaper on a nightly basis.

If you want to try it you can always register for some CDs and tell your friends you'd really like to receive them and then you could try it out without investing too much. GL!!

flyer23 · December 2011

This addresses the "bad neighbor" issue: https://www.diaperswappers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=332666

As for pre-wash, do you have to pay for laundry? If not, you can just run a cold wash cycle with no detergent as your "pre-wash." I have my own machine with a bunch of fancy controls, but I'll often do exactly that because it gets more water moving through the diapers. Of course, if you have to pay per wash, that might not be such a good option as it will cost you twice as much per load...

caralck · December 2011

I think if I didn't have my own washer and dryer I would go with the diaper service. Our local one picks up and drops off weekly and the price per week varies based on how many diapers you get each week so as baby gets bigger and uses less diapers, you pay less. Only prefolds though. We thought of using our local service but in the end decided to just wash our own since we hope to have more kids to use them and will save in the long run, if not, we can sell them to someone else.

snowdrop0106 · December 2011

Sorry I'm a first timer... but I'm in a similar situation. DH is actually the one who decided to cloth diaper. This is our first and he had to convince me. We share laundry with the woman upstairs but I'm not concerned about it since I'll do most of the desoiling in our home.

If you decide that you want to (I'm not sure I have a definite opinion on the washing situation) then do some research and find out what system you like best. Go online or to a store in your area and make sure you know what to do. Then get your husband to look with you and explain how to go about it. If you know what you're doing and you only show him the specific style you want then he won't be so overwhelmed.

We decided to go with Thirsties Duo prefolds and wraps. So the prefold can be taken and cleaned but the outer wrap can still be used. DH didn't like the idea of inserts and having to switch whole diapers throughout the day.

feuerrose2 · December 2011

uppereastgal:
Since you're in the city, I recommend going in an talking to the women at Metro Minis (in the 70s on Park). They're amazing (they offer a CD class too). Having a washer/dryer in your apartment is a rarity in this city (we're lucky enough to have one), but these ladies help city mamas out. Seriously. You won't regret it.
I have one friend who CDs in her building laundry room. It's a pain to lug the laundry, but the women at Metro Minis helped her figure out the best laundry cycles for her to use to keep it simple.
I wish I had more friends in the city who CDed. Maybe I'll be able to convert people...

Thanks for this very helpful link! I will have to wander over to the east side to get the deets!

Thanks everyone for their input! Going to definitely look into a diaper service for the 1st month or so...GL to all the other CD'ers out there

sfmom2B · December 2011

ealasaid:
Have you looked to see if there are any cloth diaper services in your area? They pick up the dirties and leave clean ones. Im going with one for our Bean. Its $95 a month and they give you a 2 weeks supply (then pick up the dirties and leave another 2 weeks supply), plus washable wipes, soaker inserts for nighttime and diaper pail liners. All you need to have are diaper covers/soakers. I calculated it out and paying for the service is around $30 cheaper a month than buying disposables, not including cost of wipes.

This exactly! We used a service. No rinsing just drop in the bag and the diaper fairy picks up and drops off fresh ones. We using the same service for this baby too. I swear we were out of diapers faster because of it - 100% pt at 2yr 3mo! (and he's a boy!).

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